Since 1954
Josephine Lee is a staff writer at the Texas Observer. She has previously worked as an educator and community organizer. Her reporting on labor, environment, politics, and education has been featured in Salon, The Daily Beast, Truthout, and other outlets. She was raised and lives in Houston.
“It’s particularly important at a moment when our state leaders have demonstrated that they don't want students to have a really full, inclusive accounting of our state or national past.”
A long-awaited hearing on a proposed OSHA heat protection rule is set for June 16, but workers are uncertain to get relief under Trump.
“It’s like your house being on fire, and the fire department showing up with a 12 ounce cup of water.”
The state created “Texas Partnership” charter schools to turn around struggling public campuses, but an Observer investigation has uncovered numerous academic and financial issues.
Trump’s gutting of the Education Department could stymie justice for 17-year-old Ja’Liyah Celestine.
The Legislature’s lower chamber has finally blessed school vouchers—and denied ordinary Texans the chance to weigh in.
The governor crushed anti-voucher Republicans in the Texas House, but there are still plenty of party activists who are opposed.
The coastal gales of the Rio Grande Valley have helped rejuvenate this small farming community.
Dems could do little but sound the alarm on vouchers—and warn the $7.7-billion school-finance package is still not enough.
Department of Education workers and union leaders in Texas say kids will pay the price for Trump’s decision to “break this system.”
